The present invention relates to a slider tube unit for a suspension fork in particular of a bicycle and preferably a slider tube unit for a telescopic suspension fork.
Employing suspension forks in bicycles has basically been known for a long time. During the last few years, suspension forks have come to be installed, other than in downhill and mountain bikes and cross-country bikes, increasingly in everyday bicycles.
Most suspension forks comprise two tubes stationary relative to the bicycle frame, the so-called stanchion or inner tubes, and two lower, mobile tubes to which the wheel hub is fastened. The stanchion tubes are held together by means of a fork bridge or fork crown at the center of which the fork column is attached. The lower, mobile tubes are the so-called diving tubes or slider tubes, that are usually the outer tubes.
To be able to take up the loads occurring in riding, the slider tubes are often fixedly connected with one another through a connector bracket above the wheel receiving space which connector bracket is configured as a one- or double-sided, open profile to enable the production process in die-casting or forging. To further increase the high rigidity the e.g. U-shaped profile contains connector bridges which serve as reinforcement against torsional forces.
To be able to take up the loads occurring at the connecting point of the connector bridge with the two slider tubes, thickened material sections are provided there to prevent the slider tubes from breaking off.
These material accumulations and transverse bridges contribute considerably to the total weight which in present-day bicycles plays a decisive role.
With GB 2 385 568 B, a unitary slider tube unit for a bicycle fork has become known which on the whole entirely consists of a fiber-reinforced material. This known slider tube unit for a suspension fork achieves high stability and low weight.
A considerable drawback in the known slider tube unit for a suspension fork is, however, the complex production process wherein small and large strips and segments of a matrix-material impregnated, fiber-reinforced material must be manually placed one by one on a mold which must then be cured in an oven under defined conditions. Thus the manufacturing process for the known slider tube unit requires a great deal of time and furthermore only a very small number of slider tube units can be manufactured per day in one mold since due to processing, heating, and curing times, the required cooling-down time for the mold must be taken into account as well.
Against the background of the known prior art it is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a slider tube unit for a suspension fork in which high rigidity of the slider tube unit at a relatively low weight can be achieved in a simple manufacturing process.